Chapter 23: The Devouring Witch

Somewhere in the woods outside the Royal Capital.

A pack of Magical Beasts stood in a surrounding formation around a young girl.

Despite their reputation as fearsome creatures that usually struck terror into others, and even with their numerical advantage, every one of them maintained a wary and cautious stance.

The girl paid no heed to the situation before her.

She moved with a leisurely and relaxed grace, as if she were simply taking a solitary stroll through the forest.

She leaned down and plucked a flower by her feet, bringing it to her nose to lightly catch its scent.

Under the moonlight, the flower withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In an instant, it turned into powder and vanished from her hand.

Noticing this scene, the Magical Beasts were all stunned, their bestial eyes reflecting disbelief.

“Was it because of the Magic Power I’m giving off that you were drawn here?”

The girl lowered her hand, the corners of her mouth twitching into a sickly, morbid smile.

These powerful Magical Beasts rarely had the habit of traveling in packs.

The only thing that could gather and attract them like this was a potent source of Magic Power.

What even they had not expected was that the powerful magic source they sensed actually originated from within a frail human body.

Though it was clearly just a human body, a single glance made them feel a surge of pressure.

It was as if something terrifying was hidden beneath that skin, causing an irrepressible fear to bloom within them.

“Since you’ve come, then stay.”

The girl pressed her palm down, and a Magic Circle began to swirl around her wrist.

The Magic Circle emitted an eerie, blood-red glow, as if it had been dyed by countless lives.

Immediately following its appearance, a thick metallic scent of blood began to permeate the air.

“Stay here, and become a part of my body.”

Facing the multitude of Magical Beasts, she unhurriedly raised her hand.

Suddenly, the Magic Circle at her wrist expanded at a rapid speed, covering half the woods.

Before the Magical Beasts could react, dark red blood spears began to fall like torrential rain, accompanied by a bloody wind that howled like serrated blades.

In just one moment, before the creatures could even process what was happening, their bodies were sliced in half at the waist.

As their flesh was severed, the expressions on their faces didn’t even have time to change.

Flesh and gore flew through the air.

The girl suddenly felt a surge of excitement, and she began to dance amidst the rising and falling fragments of meat.

Blood stained her skirt and her cheeks.

As she inhaled the thick, pungent scent of blood, the expression on her face became increasingly frenzied and crazed.

“Crimson is the most primal color of all things.

‘Why hide it beneath a useless skin?’

At this moment, return to your most primal form with me.”

All the Magical Beasts had been completely wiped out, yet the magical slaughter continued, acting as the accompaniment to the girl’s dance.

Her dance did not stop, so there was no need for the carnage to cease.

After a long while, as she came to a halt with her final movement, the Magic Circle finally vanished from the sky.

Her blood-stained hair was damp, dripping crimson droplets continuously.

Even the ground beneath her feet had been dyed a deep red.

She looked at the scene before her and slowly raised her hand again.

Her palm faced upward, and then she suddenly clenched it into a fist.

Immediately, the Magic Cores scattered in every corner shattered.

Massive amounts of Magic Power materialized into physical form, surging toward her from all directions before being absorbed into her body.

After completing this, her blood-colored eyes gradually calmed.

The frenzied expression from a moment ago receded slightly, replaced instead by a sense of irritability.

“Just this much Magic Power… tsk.”

She clicked her tongue impatiently, clearly dissatisfied.

She then walked forward to a corpse that was already a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

With practiced ease, she extracted the heart—which had long since stopped beating—and took a bite.

“An unsatisfying after-dinner dessert is truly annoying.”

Despite her words, she continued to unhurriedly chew on the bloody, lifeless heart.

In her primitive, blood-drinking state, she looked toward the direction of the Royal Capital, her eyes narrowing.

“Didn’t that old hag only mention that the place was the resting place of the Nightmare Witch? Why do I sense the aura of another familiar witch?”

Known as the Devouring Witch, the Curse she manifested after receiving her witch’s inheritance was “Devouring.”

She existed in a constant state of hunger and thirst.

This state affected not only her physical body but her Magic Power as well.

This also drove her to constantly seek out individuals with vast amounts of Magic Power.

The resting place of the Nightmare Witch, the site where her inheritance remained, was suspected to hold immense Magic Power.

That was the purpose of her current journey.

However, when she had channeled her power as a witch just now, she had sensed the power of another witch.

This power felt familiar, as if she had encountered it a long time ago.

‘Was it three years ago, or ten years ago?’

She couldn’t quite remember.

The power of a witch brought with it a Curse, but it also granted her eternal life, making her perception of time very blurred.

‘Is it that person… the Nightmare Speech Witch?’

A distant memory was stirred.

The first time she had met that person was shortly after the other had received her witch’s inheritance.

Compared to her own active craving, the other had received it passively.

She only remembered that when the other first suffered the agony brought by the Curse, she looked like a shivering fledgling without shelter.

That youthful face had been covered in tears, appearing quite pitiable.

But when she had seen her back then, she felt only disdain and contempt.

It was said that the girl eventually left her village and hid in the mountain forests.

Since then, she had never seen her again.

There was an invisible connection between witches, allowing them to sense each other’s proximity and appearance.

She hadn’t expected that she would run into that little crybaby here.

“Interesting.”

The girl took another bite of the flesh in her hand, blood splattering.

“I’m curious to see if you’re still the same as before, or if you’ve already succumbed to the Curse and become twisted like me.”

Endless life and an unceasing Curse made the relationships between witches very subtle.

They were both friends and enemies to one another.

“I think we will be meeting very soon.”

The girl casually tossed away the half-eaten remains and stepped through the bloodstains as she walked forward, quickly disappearing into the night.

***

On the other side, struck by the power carrying that surge of negative emotions, Lyr was on the verge of collapsing forward.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

Looking from the shadows toward the light, Yilu immediately noticed that something was wrong with Lyr.

The moment the words left her mouth, Lyr’s body slumped right toward the edge of her sword.

To an observer, it almost looked as if he had a death wish.

With quick eyes and steady hands, Yilu hurriedly sheathed her sword and instinctively reached out to steady Lyr’s body.

However, Lyr’s body was much heavier than she had imagined, and the two of them fell to the ground together.

A loud thud echoed throughout the entire house once more.

“Ouch.”

Feeling the impact from both sides, Yilu felt a sharp sting of pain.

“What exactly are you trying to do!”

Fuming with anger, Yilu pushed Lyr off her.

Before she could interrogate him further, she realized that Lyr had somehow lost consciousness.